Don't think Donnie will be too happy about this, giving his name a bad rap.
"When Felix Sater and his partners launched a plan to put up a Trump tower in Fort Lauderdale — luring scores of investors — he had already been charged in an explosive securities scam with New York mob figures.
He had pleaded guilty and was awaiting sentencing in the $40 million swindle.
But investors in the Trump tower never knew.
Sater had already been prosecuted in secret — his arrest records shut down and every trace of his role in the New York stock scandal stripped from public view.
Now with the collapse of the posh Trump resort, lawyers are fighting to expose the background of the 46-year-old man who they allege stole millions from investors while he was given sweeping protections by prosecutors.
Sater is accused in a civil racketeering case of helping to hide millions from the failed Fort Lauderdale project — while paying $1.5 million to a former Mafia associate for his role in the deal.
In a rare move, lawyers are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intercede in a bitter debate over the practice of concealing criminal cases from the public.
For now, Sater — an FBI informant who owns a $4.8 million Fisher Island condo — has become the poster boy of the fight over whether judges have the power to bury all traces of someone’s criminal history."
The Link
"When Felix Sater and his partners launched a plan to put up a Trump tower in Fort Lauderdale — luring scores of investors — he had already been charged in an explosive securities scam with New York mob figures.
He had pleaded guilty and was awaiting sentencing in the $40 million swindle.
But investors in the Trump tower never knew.
Sater had already been prosecuted in secret — his arrest records shut down and every trace of his role in the New York stock scandal stripped from public view.
Now with the collapse of the posh Trump resort, lawyers are fighting to expose the background of the 46-year-old man who they allege stole millions from investors while he was given sweeping protections by prosecutors.
Sater is accused in a civil racketeering case of helping to hide millions from the failed Fort Lauderdale project — while paying $1.5 million to a former Mafia associate for his role in the deal.
In a rare move, lawyers are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intercede in a bitter debate over the practice of concealing criminal cases from the public.
For now, Sater — an FBI informant who owns a $4.8 million Fisher Island condo — has become the poster boy of the fight over whether judges have the power to bury all traces of someone’s criminal history."
The Link
